1. Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to communication systems; and, more particularly, it relates to video coding as performed within such communication systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Data communication systems have been under continual development for many years. Such a communication systems may be implemented in accordance with a variety of signaling schemes. One particular type of communication system, packet-based communication systems, may be viewed from certain perspectives as being relatively more susceptible to degradation in service of quality as compared to other types of communication systems. For example, when dealing with signaling from a first communication device to one or more other communication devices, and particularly when such signaling is time sensitive (e.g., voice, media such as audio and/or video, etc.), certain degradation in one or more communication links associated with such a communication system may deleteriously affect a user's perceptual quality. Considering an example of a lossy communication channel within a packet-based communication system, when one or more packets of a given communication are lost, often times the perceptual quality is correspondingly degraded. From certain perspectives, packet-based communication systems may be viewed as having relatively greater sensitivity to degradation and communication link quality, in that, in the event that one or more packets are lost during transmission from a first communication device to one or more other mutation devices, the perceptual effect is of such significance that a user experience is significantly compromised. The present art does not satisfactorily present a means by which the deleterious effects of packet loss may be handled in such a way as to ensure a relatively high user perceptual quality and experience.